Scorn For the Horn

byBrian HallonJuly 20, 2010

Back in South Africa fans of the most beautiful are sworn to the horn; everywhere else in the world the feelings are those of scorn. Several major sporting events have made an extra effort to ban the obnoxious sounding instrument already. The long list of vuvuzela haters includes: Major League Baseball, Mixed Martial Arts, and next summer’s rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

But the Premier League hasn’t banned the bee hive sounding instrument just yet and the league made it a personalized rule to each venue that hosts Premier League matches if they want to ban the horns. And one club has already stepped up and took the initiative and banned the horn for good from their home matches.

The vuvuzelas have been banned in White Hart Lane and this statement appeared on Tottenham Hotspur’s website yesterday:

Following discussions with the Police and representatives from the local licensing authorities, the club will not be permitting vuvuzelas or similar instruments into White Hart Lane on match days. We are concerned that the presence of the instruments within the stadium pose unnecessary risks to public safety and could impact on the ability of all supporters to hear any emergency safety announcements. We are very proud of the fantastic atmosphere that our supporters produce organically at White Hart Lane and we are all very much looking forward to this continuing into the forthcoming season.

The issue of public safety is an interesting one. I’m sure the truth is that the horns were loud and obnoxious and no one at White Hart Lane wanted to be annoyed by the trumpets. So instead it appears to be legally outlawed due to the impediment the horns create over the announcements on the loud speaker system.

And the horns will probably remain a South African favorite considering they were used for the world’s biggest event and not a weekly type of deal like the EPL schedule. Plus the horn is South African culture and should remain an important part of the hosting nation’s sporting culture as well.